Difference between revisions of "Facebook"
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| − | '''Facebook''' is a social website originally used by college students but has recently been opened to all. Users can upload pictures, write blogs, chat, play games, send private and public messages, virtual gifts and add people as their friends, creating a large social network of 500 million users. There are many aspects to Facebook that can draw-in users to waste time, gossip, watch videos and many companies will restrict access to the site. There are indeed real positives to the [[website]] in the form of charity causes and conservative networking. Anybody with an account can create an unlimited amount of pages; [[religious]], business, a product, groups, artists, bands, and politics. | + | '''Facebook''' is a social website originally used by college students but has recently been opened to all. Users can upload pictures, write blogs, chat, play games, send private and public messages, virtual gifts and add people as their friends, creating a large social network of 500 million users. There are many aspects to Facebook that can draw-in users to waste time, gossip, watch videos and many companies will restrict access to the site. There are indeed real positives to the [[website]] in the form of charity causes and conservative networking. Anybody with an account can create an unlimited amount of pages; [[religious]], business, a product, groups, artists, bands, and politics. A political candidate without a social networking site risks not being taken seriously as a contender. |
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| + | Facebook is based in Palo Alto, [[California]]. The name of the site is based on the paper facebooks that many colleges give to incoming students, faculty, and staff depicting members of the campus community. <ref> [http://www.associatepublisher.com/e/f/fa/facebook.htm Facebook] </ref> | ||
==Monetary Value== | ==Monetary Value== | ||
Revision as of 22:48, January 3, 2011
Facebook is a social website originally used by college students but has recently been opened to all. Users can upload pictures, write blogs, chat, play games, send private and public messages, virtual gifts and add people as their friends, creating a large social network of 500 million users. There are many aspects to Facebook that can draw-in users to waste time, gossip, watch videos and many companies will restrict access to the site. There are indeed real positives to the website in the form of charity causes and conservative networking. Anybody with an account can create an unlimited amount of pages; religious, business, a product, groups, artists, bands, and politics. A political candidate without a social networking site risks not being taken seriously as a contender.
Facebook is based in Palo Alto, California. The name of the site is based on the paper facebooks that many colleges give to incoming students, faculty, and staff depicting members of the campus community. [1]
Monetary Value
It is rumored that Facebook generates around $1 million per week in revenue. [2] In September 2006, Yahoo began talks to acquire Facebook for as high as $1 billion. In October, Google allegedly offered $2.3 billion.[3] All outside offers have been rejected. 2009 estimates put a net value of $6.5 billion. [4] 2010 estimates of the privately held company put the value at $14 billion dollars. [5]
In 2011, Goldman Sachs invested $500 million in Facebook. It is speculated that Goldman Sachs may be put in charge of an initial public offering of Facebook stock in 2012. Valuations are speculated at between $10 and $50 billion. [6]
Origins
Facebook was founded in February 2004 by Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin, with help from Andrew McCollum. By December of 2004, after expanding the site to other universities, the number of registered users exceeded one million. In August 2005 Facebook obtained the domain name facebook.com and dropped the "the" from the site.
2010
A movie was made about the origins of Facebook, called 'The Social Network'. The film was number one in America for several weeks. Mark Zuckerberg was not involved in the creation of film and says that it was more Hollywood than reality.
It has been known among Silicon Valley technology companies that Facebook has been luring away Google employees to the extent that Google is now offering bonuses not to leave the company. On October 15, Facebook announced the release of a new email client. Internally referred to as Titan and the media has dubbed it Gmail Killer. Zuckerberg insists it is not a head-to-head competitor of Google's Gmail service and will be more of a instant messaging service. [7]
Privacy Issues
Compared to Myspace, Facebook gives the user many more options for privacy controls. Under the default private settings, only Facebook users in the same network, or friends of the user, can access another user's profile. There are also separate privacy controls for each type of information (blogs, messages, address and telephone numbers, photos). A user in a completely different network will have no access to another user's profile unless they are added as a friend.[8] Despite these controls, the same problems exist as with any other networking website:
- Many users post their full address, e-mail address, birthday, and telephone number, and these can be available to their entire network. This information in the wrong hands can be used for purposes of phishing, stalking, or even identity theft.
- Some universities have begun to use students' pages to investigate underage drinking and other violations of university policy. This is very possible, since university faculty and staff can sign up for the same network as their students through their campus e-mail account.[9]
- The so-called "news feed" has aroused some discomfort among Facebook users, as it collects all changes among one's friends and posts whenever a user logs in.
- The "wall" feature allows a user to send a message to another user which remains on their profile page. This posting is viewable to everyone who can view the page, and shows up on the news feed for all friends of both the sender and the recipient.
- As with Google ads, Facebook collects profile information, and places ads on the page that reflect the user's personal information.
References
- ↑ "Facebook goes beyond college and high school markets"
- ↑ "First Youtube, Now Facebook: Rumors Circulate"
- ↑ Facebook stock trading open; valuation $6.5 billion CNET News, July 13, 2009
- ↑ Facebook Valued At $14 Billion On SecondMarket, TechCrunch.com, January 20, 2010
- ↑ Is Facebook Worth $50B?, Fox Business, January 3, 2011
- ↑ E-MAIL WAR: Facebook Launches 'Gmail Killer' -- AOL Jumps In, Too, FOX News, November 15, 2010
- ↑ Facebook on allexperts.com
- ↑ Facebook on allexperts.com
